October 9, 2013FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Carrie DavisPhone: 614.469.1505Predictable Results: A Report from the League of Women Voters of Ohio Examining 2011 Gerrymandering and 2012 Election Results

Columbus - Today, the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO) unveiled a new report, "Predictable Results", which documents that the results of the 2012 Ohio legislative elections were completely predictable based on heavily gerrymandered districts drawn in 2011.

"The 2012 election results for Ohio's U.S. Congressional seats, Ohio Senate and Ohio House were completely predictable," said Carrie Davis, LWVO Executive Director. "The districts were drawn to pack as many Republicans or Democrats into districts as possible, so that each party would have a virtually guaranteed win in districts drawn to their advantage. This report documents that the results matched the predictions perfectly, leaving voters wondering whether they have any say in the results."

The report offers side-by-side comparisons of how the districts were drawn and the actual election results. All sixteen U.S. Congressional districts voted as predicted, all of the state Senate districts voted as predicted, and 97 of 99 state House districts voted as predicted.

"These figures clearly document that Ohio's 2011 map-drawers created safe seats for political parties. " Continued Davis. "The consequence of having such an overwhelming number of safe seats is that legislators are not compelled to be responsive to their constituents if they are guaranteed to win."

The report also showed the glaring disparity between the number of seats won by each party in comparison to the overall number of votes each party received statewide.

"Ohio voters are basically evenly split between the two major parties," added Davis, "yet the party in control of redistricting won far more than half the seats. The number of seats held by each party does not reflect Ohioan's political values."